Human beings are not born
serious. We begin life fully equipped with an innate playfulness and the ability to laugh
freely. Sadly, we curb our playfulness and our laughter as a sacrifice to the serious
business of adulthood. In order to keep laughing, we need to be in a partial state of
playfulness, consciously or unconsciously. Laughter therapy can help us ease our adult
seriousness and retrieve that lost sensation of play.

Laughter is not only fun. It is also good for us. At last! Something good for us that
is also enjoyable. There is no need for "yukky tasting" concoctions, profuse
sweating in concentrated exercise, or a change in our diet for this particular pursuit of
health. All that’s required is pure, unrestrained, old-fashioned laughter. It heals
the body and eases painful emotions like anger and fear. It helps us cope with daily
survival in a pleasant and effective way. Since laughter is born of tension, stress, and
pain, most of us need not worry about being able to laugh. Stress is the number one health
problem today, and we’ve all got it.

Laughter therapy is a term used by many, but for our purposes, it is learning to laugh
freely again at the many things we deal with that aren’t funny. Children will play
with almost anything except direct pain. Adults were intended to do the same. When we can
play with our pain, we laugh. When we laugh, we shift our perspective and problems shrink
to a manageable size. We don't diminish importance, but we are less overwhelmed.